


The 12 Unsold

by orphan_account



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Jack Kelly, Fluff, Gay Davey Jacobs, Humor, Idiots in Love, Internalized Homophobia, Kinda, M/M, Mutual Pining, No Angst, No Smut, Pining, because ew, can you tell i cant tag, half was written during online class, its not mentioned but I want you to know, javid - Freeform, no beta we die like men, not really - Freeform, oh also race and albert are dating, seriously they're both so dumb I love the, the other was written at like 2 am, the t is for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Davey has barely sold half of the papes he bought before sundownJack says he'll help, but he may or may not have ulterior motivesorMy comfort characters being pining dumbasses for 1k words
Relationships: David Jacobs & Jack Kelly, David Jacobs & Les Jacobs, David Jacobs & Sarah Jacobs, David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Les Jacobs & Jack Kelly
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	The 12 Unsold

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first one-shot, so sorry if the pacing is shitty

Davey sighed as he looked down at the papers still in his hand. He had only sold 8 over the course of the day, which left him with...... 

He thumbed through the stack to count. 

12 papers unsold. Damn it. 

All the other newsies were already heading back to the lodging houses, which meant he would have to return home with less money than he started. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. He knew he was pretty bad at selling, but normally he would at least make a little. 

He was about to just admit defeat and walk home when he felt Jack peering over his shoulder. 

“Jeez Davey, how many did you buy today?” 

“...20” 

Jack winced, which didn’t make him feel any better “yeah, I know, it’s bad, but there's nothing I can do about it now.” 

“whaddya talkin’ about? The suns barely went down. There's still time” 

“well if I could barely sell 8 in broad daylight, I doubt I could sell 12 at night. Who would even buy a newspaper after all the news has already passed?” 

“look, I can help you’s. Just lemme tell Crutchie I’ll be gone for a little tonight” Jack said running off. 

Wow. Davey still had doubts he would even be able to help, but he’d take any moment alone with Jack. He always just felt happy when it was just them. 

…. but that doesn’t mean anything. Nope. They were just friends. Two bros. A couple of homies. 

He felt Les tug on his vest 

“Can we go now, Dave? I sold all my papes, and I’m starving” 

Right. He had to take him home. Should he do that before, or after Jack helped him sell the rest of his papes... 

“...Dave...?” 

“oh- um... Ok yeah. I’ll drop you off. I and Jack are going to stay out a little bit more.” 

“Aw man, can I come?” 

“I thought you just said you were starving.” 

“I can wait long enough. Pleeease?” 

Davey was just about to protest this when Jack came walking back up. 

“Ok, Crutchie’s fine with it. He's just gonna crash with Race and Albert for the night.” 

‘Jack!!” Les’s face lit up “Can I come with you and Dave please?” 

Davey furiously shook his head in Jack's direction. He didn’t want Les interrupting them. 

“uhhhhhhh sorry kid. This is big kid stuff only.” Jack said awkwardly crouching and patting Les on the shoulder. He turned to Davey and mouthed _‘why?’_

Davey just gave a sigh in response. 

Les looked down at the ground for a moment, before jolting his head up and asking “Can you at least walk home with me and Dave?” 

Jack looked up at Davey for approval, who giggled and nodded. 

“Yeah, of course, kid” Jack patted him on the shoulder again, before standing up straight again. 

As they began to walk, Davey and Jack fell into playful conversation. 

“what was with all the shoulder pats? Is that the only way you know to interact with young kids?” Davey chuckled 

“hey, I only did like... two" 

“yeah, in the span of a minute” 

Jack laughed, and Les looked up at them. 

“what's so funny?” 

“Nothing, it’s just your brotha’ doesn’t understand the concept of being friendly with kids” 

Davey gave an exaggerated scoff and gave Jack a small shove, causing him to laugh more. Davey did really love his laugh. 

...like a friend. Because that’s all they were. Even if he wished otherwise; they could never be more. That's how things were, and that’s how things would have to stay. 

When they actually arrived at the Jacob’s residence, Jack had to physically put his arm out in front of Davey to stop him from walking any further. 

“Thanks...” Davey muttered. He wasn’t sure if Jack could hear him. 

He took Les by the arm and led him up to the front door. When he opened it, he was met with the glaring eyes of Sarah. 

“ugh, thank god you’re back” she sighed “Mom and dad have been on the verge of reporting you missing” 

Jack scoffed from outside “Really? That much fuss over being a few minutes late?” 

“Yeah, where do you think good ol’ David here got it from?” she replied nonchalantly leaning against the doorframe. All the sudden, her eyes lit up, and she seemed to realize who she was talking to. 

She pulled Davey aside and whispered “is that Jack? Why is he here?” 

“He’s going to help me sell the rest of my papers. We’re just here dropping Les off” 

“Oh, he’s helping you ‘sell the rest of your papers’” she chuckled, emphasizing this with quotations “got it” 

Davey sputtered almost falling backward. He knew he shouldn’t have told her about how he felt. He knew it. 

“it’s not like that and you know it” he muttered turning back to Jack. “Sarah, tell mom and dad I’m going to be gone for another hour so they won't worry please” 

“I will. Go have fun you crazy kids” she laughed letting Les inside and shutting the door. 

“that your sis?” 

“...yep” Davey began to walk away. 

“what she pulls you aside for?” 

“Nothing!” he said all too quickly “It was nothing. Don't worry about it” 

Jack pursed his lips and nodded as a response. 

There were a few beats of silence until Davey spoke again. “So how are we going to sell these?” He took the papes out and waved them in his hand. 

“Well, first we gotta find some people walkin’ around to sell them to” 

Davey looked around at the empty street they were walking in “there doesn’t seem to be many of those” 

“well there can’t be no one” Jack muttered “let’s keep walkin for a bit” 

Davey nodded in agreement. 

And so, they did. They walked everywhere, but it seemed every person in all of New York had gone back inside their houses. 

“Look Jack” Davey said “it’s pretty clear I’m not going to be able to sell these. It's fine, Les sold all of his so I’m sure that makes up for it. Let's just head back” 

“No Davey we can’t-” Jack was cut off by the sound of a large boom in the distance. Almost immediately they both felt drops of rain hitting their faces. 

“shit...” Jack muttered 

“Let’s just run back to my house! We can dry off-” 

“Davey, your house is nearly a mile away! We’ll be soaked by the time we get there” 

“What are we supposed to do then?” the rain was picking up, and the thunder was starting to get more frequent. There was a long pause while Jack looked around for any dry places. 

“let’s sit in there until the rain stops!” He pointed to a very musty area in between 2 buildings. Davey would rather stay anywhere else, but it was dry, so it had to do. 

They both rushed into the alleyway and nearly collapsed into the walls. 

“thank god....” Davey mumbled sitting down. 

“mmhm” Jack nodded, plopping down right next to him. He took off his hat and wrung it out. 

Davey took this moment to just... look at Jack. He didn’t get to do this often without it seeming weird. He did think Jack was very pretty, in the effortless kind of way. Like he just woke up like that. 

Jack suddenly looked up, which startled him. 

“whaddya lookin’ at?” Jack chuckled. 

Davey didn’t respond. This left a long beat of silence between the two boys. It was probably only 15 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Jack’s eye’s flicked down to his lips. You know what? Fuck it. 

“Dave I-” 

Davey cut him off by kissing him. Oh god, he was kissing him. 

… 

OH GOD, HE WAS KISSING HIM- 

Davey pulled away as fast as he could “oh my god I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have done that... Shit-” 

Jack cupped his face in his hands and pulled him back, and they kissed each other again. After a second Jack pulled away 

“wait wait, back up, did I just hear David ‘good boy’ Jacobs SWEAR??” 

Davey snorted, and placed his head against Jack’s shoulder to laugh. “of course, that’s the first thing you would comment on” he said in-between giggles. 

“well, how am I supposed to ignore that!?” 

“I would think it would be pretty easy considering the circumstances.” 

“Oh right! Those!” he made a big show of slapping his forehead, making Davey chuckle even more. 

“About them though....” Davey started. 

“Oh god, no, not right now please...” Jack groaned 

“Look! I just want you to know I like you!” 

“wow, however could I have guessed” Jack deadpanned 

Davey ignored him “I have for a long time and-” 

“I have too” 

“...really...?” 

Jack seemed to stare at him for a solid 5 seconds “Was I not obvious?” 

“No! Not in the slightest!” 

“I invited you’s to come sell papes with me at night! I knew no one was going to buy them! I just wanted to spend time with you!” 

“.... oh” Yeah. That made a lot more sense. 

A long pause. 

“So what do we do now?” Davey asked 

“I dunno, just....” Jack linked his fingers together 

“......is that an innuendo” 

“nO like- we date or-” 

“Jack, we can’t. it’s not allowed. I don’t want to have to hide anything” 

Jack snorted “Have you ever met the rest of the newsies?” 

Davey gave him a blank stare. 

“oh my god, practically half of them are dating each other...” 

“theY’R E W H AT” 

Jack laughed and threw his head into Davey’s chest. 

Davey looked up at the almost clear sky “the rain stopped” 

“Let’s just stay here for a little while longer” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! please comment any critiques! I'm very new and would like some help :))


End file.
